Apple recalls MacBook Air for failing flash drives

The MacBook Air is a popular laptop for photographers, as its low-weight and long battery life make it easy to take out of the studio with you. But if you bought one between June 2012 and June 2013, the unit might have been recalled due to failures in its flash drive.

Apple has a flash drive replacement scheme for MacBook Airs with 64GB and 128GB harddrives, which were sold over the latter half of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. To see if your laptop is one of the ones being recalled, go to the Mac App Store, click on updates, and download "MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.1". That should tell you if you need the flash drive replaced or not.

If you are one of those affected, Apple recommends you back up your drive, but don't install any OS updates or new applications. Then take your computer in to an Apple Store, Apple Authorized Service Provider, or contact Apple Technical Support to arrange to get your new flash drive installed.

Even if your computer isn't one of the ones affected, it's probably worth using this as a reminder to backup your computer frequently. You never know when something will fail catastrophically — and you don't want to lose all those photos you worked so hard on.